Apparatus for loading coal



ept. 9 1924.

150,115 F. E. MUELLER APPARATUS FOR LOADING COAL Filed Aug. 7, 19.22 5Sheets-5heet l Set. -9, E924. F. E. MUELLER- APPARATUS FOR Lowme COALFild Aug. '2,

1922 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 fivcxfon Fave/(Z fifucZZer epfi. 9, 19 24. 150,115

F. E. MUELLER APPARATUS FOR LOADING CDAL Filed Aug. '2, 1922 SSheetS-Sheet 5 Sept, 9, 1924. 1 50mm F. E. MUELLER APPARATUS FDR LOADINGCOAL Filed Aug. 7, 1922 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 d-CwVU i v et r at.

n n. MUELLER, or cnroao 'inminois; assreno-n ro nonnn'rs Ann sonanrnnCOMPANY, 01E CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, 'A CORPORATION OF 1 ILLINOIS.

APPARATUS Font LOADING coAn To all whom it may concem;

Be it known that I, F ANK E. MUELLER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State-of Illinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Apparatusfor LoadingGoal, of which the followi'ngis a specification.

My invention relates to a process and apparatus for screening anddelivering coal, and particularly to a process for screening, gradingand delivering coal direct to the railroad car without dropping the coaland submitting it to the inevitable breakage caused by the usual dropfrom the graded coal bin to the car. I

One object of my invention is to providea means and process forseparating coal into other suitable mechanismactuated from a powersource not herein shown.

C is the de livery hopper D, adapted to deliver screena number of gradesand for feeding such grades, selectively to a car on a track adjacent orbeneath the bins. Another object.

is to provide means for carrying out the process above outlined at amaximumspeed and with a minimum number of bins. An-

other object is to provide a means and process for conveying the coalfrom the bin gate and downwardly to the car rapidly but withoutbreakage. '(lther objects will appear from time to time in the course ofthe specification. j

1 illustrate my invention more or less diagrammatically in theaccompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a vertical section through acoal screening,

2 is a section on theline 2 2 of Fig. 1;

Figs. 3 and 4 are diagrammatic sections through coal spouts or chutesillustrated in Figffi is a section through the lower portionof a variantform of plant;

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 66 of Fig. 5;

v ig. 7 is a section through the lower portion of another type of plant;

Fi 8 is a section on the line 8-'-8fof Fig. f

ig. 9 is a vertical section through the -lower portion of another typeof plant; and Fig. 10 is a section on the line 1010 of i 9.. {-iikeparts are illustrated by like characters throughout storage and deliveryinstallation;-

Application filedAugust 7, 1922. Serial No. 580.651.

A is any suitablenform of conveyor or elevator for conveying coal fromthe tipple or coal source to the 'screens through the opening A in thehouse A.

B are bin-walls supported by the vertical frame elements B B are the binbottoms having inclined-sides as at B leading to.

gates B with suitable opening and closing elements not shown in detailand adapted to be controlled bythe chains B 'or otherwise. B .is-anysuitable trimmers walk.

' C C? are shaker screens mounted on the oscillating elements (1?, thelower ends of which are afiixed to the frame or support C The shakerscreens are "reciprocated in anysuitable manner-,1i0r example by thelinks C C pivoted adjacent the end of each boom and oscillated bytheeccentrics C or any Beneath the shaker screen D adapted -to delivercoal selectively to neighboring bin's. Beneath the lower portion of thescreen C is another delivery spout D shown as delivering coal to aSpiral Chute D" in the central bin of the five illustrated in. Fig. 1. w

Mounted beneath the lower end of the shaker screen G is apicking tableE,which is illustratedin Fig. 1 as an endless carrying belt. Thematerialdelivered from the outer end of the picking table passes down the chuteE and may be selectively deliveredj'down the .spouts E E to the spiralchutes E E delivering to the two bins shown at the leftof Fig. 1.

It will be understood that the various bins overlie the railroad trackG, as shown, for example, in Fig. 2, the gates B lying substantiallyalong the central axis of the track. Beneath the gates, and spaced abovethe track a suflicient distance to permit the passage of cars,'is theconveyor G illustrated in Fig. 1 as an endless belt, the details ofwhich' form no part of the present inven-v tion. This conveyor deliverscoal to a rev ciprocating screen G which is osoillat ed'byendless'i-conveyor G1 is replaced by a mlity the link G through anypractical eccentric drive mechanism G Adjacent the screen G is thereciprocating loading boom G adapted to be reciprocated by the link Grdriven by the eccentric G The loading boom is pivoted, and anysatisfactory means, not herein shown, are used for supporting, raisingand lowering at will the outer end of the boom, without breaking theloading contact with the screen G The fines which pass through thescreen G drop into the hopper H, and are gathered andiiarried by aspiral conveyor H, which delivers to the screenings elevator H which inturn discharges them through the spout H into the slack bin shown at theright hand of Fig. 1. The slack bin may be provided with a slack gate,and a chute H direct to the underlying car, and of course positionedslightly to one side of the conveyor G lln the variant form shown inFigs. 5 and 6, K is an inclined lip or other form of screen whichreceives material from the conveyor G and feeds to the apron loadingboom K, the details of which do not form part of the present invention.Otherwise the installation is identical with that shown in eform shownin Figs. 7 and 8, tihe' P 'ofsuperposed conveyors L D, adapted to'lbneciprocated in opposition by any suitable. reciprocating meansdiagrammatically illiistrated as at 1U. L is the loading con-"veyorflwhichreceives material discharged from? any of the storage binsand delivers it tothe loading-boom L hinged atthe 401w i for. raising,lowering and supporting the outer or left-hand end of lb, as shown inig." 7. Any suitable means may be used outer. end of the hinged boom.The loading conveyor is provided at any-suitable point, as, for example,at L in Fig. 8, with a rescreen, which deposits the fines or degradationon the lower conveyor L, which in turn conveys it from left to right, asshown in Fig. 7, depositing it finally in the hopper L ,,w ence it iscarried by the spiral screenings conveyors L L to the screeningselevator H for delivery to the slack bin.

Tn the variant form shown in Figs. 9 and 10, the chutes M, M M M and Mdeliver coal to the upper loading boom N, down which it passes to thelower loading boom N the two loading booms being recipro- The lower boomN lit will be understood that while I have illustrated several practicalapplications of my invention many changes might be made in the number,size, shape and disposition of parts, and many combinations and changesin order of the steps of my process might be made, without departingfrom the spirit of my invention.

The use and operation of my invention are as follows: v

Goal is delivered .by any satisfactory means from a tipple or other coalsource to a shaker screen or a succession of shaker. screens, by whichthe coal .isgraded' and passes through the various meshes or finenessesof screen to a plurality of classified storage bins, of which five areillustrated in the drawings. The material which passes over the screensmay, if desired, be picked and is subsequently passed forward over thepicking table and into classified bins. I

so arrange the receiving hoppers screens and the delivery chutes thatany class of coal, or coal from any particular screen or section ofscreen, may be delivered at will to more than one classified stora eTlOilZL Tr nece sary, telegraph or spiral c utes' may be provided todeliver coaldownward to the bot tom of the bin, to avoid breakage. Inthe in the form shown in Fig. l delivers the coal 3 to the rescreen Gwhere the degradation is removed and the coal in its final, cleanedcondition is delivered down an oscillating or shaking loading boom whichlowers the coal without breakage and feeds it directly to the carbottom. The fines may be disposed of in any suitable manner but arequently returned to a screenings elevator, which eventually" drops themback into the slack bin.

in the form shown in Figs, 5 and 6, for a shaker loading boom an apronloading boom is substituted and a highly inclined lip screen is shown,but the general operation, of course, is the same.

In the-form of Figs. 7 and 8 T substitute for the endless conveyor aplurality of superposed shaker booms or conveyors which reciprocate inopposition, the upper con veyor having at one or more points rescreenwhich delivers fines or degradation to the lower conveyor, the lowerconveyor delivering them to a screen conveyor or elevator. A loadingboom is hinged to the upper loading conveyor and, of course, serves toing boom, which in turn delivers direct to the car. InFigures 9 and Iillustrate a 1.0 plurality of chutes delivering coal to an down which itpasses to a lower boom N f Y. the booms 'or'conveyors being separatelyreciprocated by the links N N The sepaupper boom or reciprocatingconveyor,

' -rate or lower shaker boom N delivers the material directly to thecar. i

I claim:

' 1. In a material liandling installation adapted to be aligned alongand above a railroad track, a plurality of storage bins longitudinallyaligned above said track, material feeding means in the bottom of eachof said bins, a substantially horizontal conveyor aligned beneath saidbins and feeding means and adapted to receive material from all of them,a loading boom adjacent" one end of said horizontal conveyor and adaptedto receivematerial therefrom and means for raising andlowering saidboom.

2. In a material handling installation adapted to bealigned along andabove a railroad track, a plurality of storage bins longitudinallyaligned above said track, material feeding means in the bottom of eachof said bins, a substantially horizontal conveyor aligned beneath saidbins and feeding means and adapted to "receive material from all ofthem, a loading boom adjacent one end of said horizontal conveyor andadapted to receive material therefrom and means for raising and loweringsaid boom, and screening means intermediate said horizontal conveyor andsaid loading boom.

3. In a material handling installation, a

plurality of longitudinally aligned storage bins, material-feeding meansin' the bottom of each of said bins, a substantially hormontal conveyoraligned beneath said bins and feeding means and adapted toreceive'material from all of them, a rescreening element adjacent theend of said liorizontalconve or, a loading boom adjacent the same 'endof said horizontal conveyor and adapted to receive therefrom thematerial, and means for raising and lowering said boom.

4. In a material handling installation, a plurality of longitudinallyaligned storage bins, material feeding means in the boltltom of each ofsaid bins, a substantially zontal conveyor aligned beneath said bins andfeeding means and adapted to receive material from all of them, arescreening element adjacent one end ofsaid horizontal conveyor and aloading boom adjacent said rescreening element, said rescreening elementbeing adapted to receive material from' said horizontal conveyor and todeliver it to saidloading boom.

" 5.-; In a material handling installation, a

plurality of. longitudinally aligned storage bins, material feedingmeans in the bottom of each of said bins, a substantially horizontalconveyor aligned beneath said bins, and feeding means and adapted toreceive material from all of them, an oscillating rescreening elementadj acentone end of said horizontal conveyor and an oscillating loadingboom adjacent said rescreening element, said rescreening element beingadapted to receive material from said horizontal con-.

veyor and to deliver it to said loading boom. 6. In a materialhandlinginstallation, a

plurality of longitudinally aligned storage I bins, material feeding.means in the bottom of each of sa d bins, a substantially horizontalconveyor aligned beneath said bins and feeding means and adapted toreceive material from all of them, an oscillating rescreening elementadjacent one end of said horizontal conveyor and an oscillating loadingboom adjacent said rescreeni'ng element,

sa d rescreening element being adapted to recelve mater al from saidhorizontal conveyor and to deliver it to said loading boom, and separate,means for oscillating said rescreening element and said loading boom.

7. In a'material handling installation, a plurality of longitudinallyaligned storage bins, material feeding meansin the bottom of each ofsaid bins, a substantially horizontal endless conveyor aligned beneathsaid bins and feeding means and adapted to receive material from all ofthem,'an oscillating loading boom adjacent the end ofmsaid conveg or andadapted to receive material there om, and a rescreening element adjacentthe point of delivery of the conveyor to the loading boom.

8. In a material handling installation, a lurality of longitudinallyaligned storage ins, material feeding means in'the bottom of each ofsaid bins, a substantially horizontalj endless conveyor aligned beneathsaid bins and feedingm'e'ans and adapted to receive material from all ofthem, an oscillating loading boom adjacent the end of said conve 'or andadapted toreceive material there om, and a re'screening element adjacentthe point of delivery of the conveyor to the loading boom, .and separatemeans for oscillating said boom and conve or.

9. In a material handlin insta lation, a storage receptacle, means orfeeding material from the bottom of said receptacle, a substantiallyhorizontal conveyor beneath said receptacle and adapted to receive thematerial delivered therefrom, means for actuating said conveyor, aloadingboom adjaeent one end of-said conveyor and axially storage loin,material delivering means in the jacent the point of delivery of saidconveyor to said loading hoom.

\ l0. lln a material handling installation, a storage receptacle, meansfor feeding material from the bottom of said receptacle, a substantiallyhorizontal endless conveyor aligned beneath said rece tacle and adaptedto receive material theretrom, an oscillating loading hoom adjacent theend of said conveyor and adapted to receive material therefrom and arescreening element adjacent the point of delivery of the conveyor tothe hoom.

ll. lln a material handling installation, a storage receptacle and meansfor feeding material from the bottom thereof, a solostantiallyhorizontal conveyor thereloeneath and adapted to receive materialtherefrom, a screening element adjacent the delivery end of saidconveyor and adapted to receive material therefrom, and a loading hoomadjacent said screening element and adapted to receive materialtherefrom. a 12.1311 a material delivery installation, a

hottom thereof, a lateral conveyor adapted to receive material directlytherefrom, an oscillating loading 'hoom mounted adjacentthe deliveryendthereoi and a rescreening element mounted intermediate the deliverywas end of the lateral conveyor and" the hoorn, and separate means foroscillat said screening element arid said loading hoorn.

it. In a material delivery installation, adapted to he aligned along andahove a railroad track, a storage loin aligned directly alcove saidtraclr, a lateral conveyor aligned along" and above said track adapted,to receive material directly from the hin, a

loading hoom mounted adjacent the delivery end of the conveyor andaligned axially therewith, and a rescreening element mount ed betweenthedelivery end of the conveyor and the receivingend oi? the loading);looom,

and means for raising and lowering the loa ing hoom Signed at Chicago,county of Coot: and State at lllllDQIS, this diet day cl Joly,

